


The Phantom Mystery

by FieraTheProud



Category: Danny Phantom, Mystery Skulls (Band), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: in other words, no phantom planet, replaces Phantom Planet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 23:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8867653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FieraTheProud/pseuds/FieraTheProud
Summary: Mystery Skulls Animated/Danny Phantom crossover.The Mystery Skulls are hired to capture a ghost in Amity Park, one no one has been able to contain for long; Danny Phantom.Can they contain him? Do they even need to?





	1. ~Welcome to Amity Park~

**Author's Note:**

> In the DP timeline, this would replace "Phantom Planet" and in the MSA timeline this'd be post-canon. At the time of uploading this, only Ghost and Freaking Out exist, so we'll see if Hellbent or any future videos will have the story end differently than anticipated.
> 
> The Summary is very shitty because the only one I ever wrote before posting was for me to remember what happens later on and is thus spoilerific. I'm going to try coming up with a better one. Well, without further ado, enjoy the story!

(Title Card drawn by me. [DeviantART Link](http://fav.me/darvzfa))

 

Just outside of Amity Park an old orange van was driving. On both of its sides the words ‘Mystery Skulls’ were painted, in both English and Japanese.

 

“....’Amity Park, a safe place to live’? Yeah, sure, they’ve got a big ghost problem, so _huge_ that the city’s called the ‘Ghost Capital of America’, and it’s a _safe_ place to live,” The driver deadpanned.

 

“Well, I guess that it’s a pretty safe place if they’ve got their own superhero and all those Ghost hunters going around.” A young woman dressed in all blue responded, petting a white dog that was resting its head on her lap.

 

“If we were called, not safe enough.” the driver said, clearly unamused. He ran his left hand through his spiky hair, light from the setting sun shining off the metal, and sighed. “I take it that we still don’t know the details of this case?”

 

“Nope. Our client wants to tell the details in person. I informed him that we’re arriving to Amity and he told us that he wants to talk tomorrow at around 11 AM. He also said that he’ll send us a message closer to that time about the place where he wants to meet. For now we should just go find our hotel.” A third voice belonging to a tall man with purple hair piped up. He was just closing the laptop he had used to communicate with their client.

 

“I guess so. Vivi, you have the map. Directions?”

 

~~~~

 

**Fenton Works, 12:01 AM**

 

Danny phased through the wall of his room and flopped onto his bed, turning back to human in the process. Not only did Skulker absolutely refuse to leave him alone, but he had also sensed some other ghost that he just couldn’t find. Oh, and the Box Ghost showed up and gave more trouble than usual. Thankfully it was Friday, which meant no school tomorrow. Well, technically it was Saturday already, due to being midnight.

 

Sitting up, he pulled out the first aid kit he keeps under his bed and started treating the wounds he’d gotten from Skulker. Thankfully it was only a few bruises. Thanks to his accelerated healing capacities, they should be (almost) gone by morning and he wouldn’t have to explain anything to his parents. And if he did need to, he could say that he simply tripped.

 

Once each of his wounds was treated, he changed into his pajamas. He needed all the rest he could get because of the tests that had all piled onto the last week, in addition to the midnight ghost busts. Almost as soon as Danny’s head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.

 

~~~~

 

**Hotel Fantasma, Room 206, 7:15 AM**

 

A shrill scream sounded through the hotel room that the Mystery Skulls were occupying.

 

“N-not cool man, not c-cool!” the mechanic of the Mystery Skulls, Arthur Kingsmen, said, teeth chattering. He had collected himself in an one-armed hug. Beside him Lewis Pepper, the ‘ghost expert’ (and a ghost himself) of their little group, was standing with a bucket in his hands and a smirk on his face.

 

“Oh it was cool alright, ice cold in fact. Or was the water not cold enough?” Lewis joked. He put the bucket down and took the towel that had been hanging on his shoulder and threw it on Arthur. “Dry yourself and get dressed. Vivi is already awake and you don’t want to miss breakfast because she and Mystery ate everything, do you?”

 

“I get it, I get it…” Arthur answered, still shivering a bit from the ice water. He paused for a second and then shifted his gaze towards Lewis again. “Hey, um… Can you help me dry the port? I _really_ shouldn’t put the arm back in if it’s wet.”

 

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

 

~~~~

 

**Hotel Fantasma, Diner, 7:35 AM**

 

When Arthur and Lewis arrived at the hotel’s diner, Vivi and Mystery had both gathered themselves a sizeable plate of food and were busy stuffing their faces with blueberry pancakes. While Arthur went to get some breakfast for himself, Lewis sat down at the table, not needing to eat.

 

“So…” Lewis began, “how did you manage to convince them to not only let Mystery eat the same food as us, but also eat at the table?”

 

Vivi swallowed her mouthful of food before answering. “A combination of puppy dog eyes from the two of us, telling them I wouldn’t allow him to eat anything dangerous for him plus some persuasion,” was all she said before diving right back into her food. Lewis glanced at Mystery’s plate and saw the several chocolate chip cookies the dog was currently devouring at an incredible speed. “Of course, there’s nothing here that’s dangerous to Mystery,” Vivi added before Lewis could say anything. He sighed.

 

“They wouldn’t know that, Vi,” Lewis pointed out. They sat there for a moment before Arthur came back with a plate of his own, much smaller than Vivi’s had been, and a cup of coffee.

 

“So, anything new from our client?” He asked as he sat down. Vivi quickly finished off the rest of her food.

 

“Yep! He wanted us to come to his mansion on the outskirts of Amity Park as soon as possible. Said he’d rather discuss the details in person ‘to avoid anyone not involved finding out’. Not sure why he’s so worried about that, though,” Vivi said.

 

“I see…” Arthur muttered. He glanced at Vivi and Mystery’s empty plates. “Well, if you’ve finished eating you should go and get ready to go,” He said and watched as Vivi quickly downed the rest of her orange juice and slammed the glass on the table.

 

“I’ll go do just that, then! Come on Lewis, Mystery!” she exclaimed before dashing towards the elevators, Mystery right at her heel. Lewis, however, didn’t get up.

 

“Aren’t you going?” Arthur asked.

 

“I was just wondering if you’re really fine with staying behind.” Lewis admitted.

 

“Eh, I can take care of myself until help arrives if any ghosts decide to attack,” Arthur replied with a grin. Lewis shook his head with a smile.

  
“Alright then,” he said and turned to follow Vivi.


	2. ~Meeting Masters~

**Masters’ Mansion, 7:58 AM**

 

Mayor Vlad Masters was minding his own business when his security systems alerted him of movement outside. A large screen turned on and showed footage of a dull orange van being parked in front of his front door. Seeing the words painted on it’s side, he smirked. The group he had hired had arrived.

Vlad watched as three people and a dog climbed out of the van and frowned. While he himself didn’t mind, Maddie wouldn’t like it if they brought what he assumed to be their team mascot inside. The woman in blue dashed toward the door but didn’t quite make it before the blond man stopped her by grabbing her arm. The team discussed something for a while, accompanied by the dog’s apparent barking, before the blond climbed into the back of the van. He soon returned with a red leash that he attached to the dog’s collar and then gave the large purple man the other end. He and the woman then approached the door while the larger man and the dog went the opposite direction, probably for a walk. Soon Vlad heard the doorbell ring. Smirking, he switched off the screen and went to answer the door.

Everything was going to plan.

 

~~~~

 

“Alright, this looks like the right place,” Arthur said as he parked the van in front of a large mansion. Almost as soon as they all had climbed out of the vehicle, Vivi was already trying to run off towards the mansion’s door, but she was stopped by Arthur.

“Hold on, Vivi. I don’t think all of us should be going in there,” Arthur told her, motioning towards the door.

“Why not?” Vivi asked, clearly very confused.

“See that device near the door? It’s either a motion detector or something that detects ectoplasm. My money’s on Ghost Detector,” Arthur explained. “Because of that, it’s not exactly safe for Lew to go in. Sorry, Big Guy,” He continued, addressing Lewis with the last sentence.

“But what should we do then? Mr. Masters most likely has some cameras recording every possible entrance, and he knows that this team consists of the four of us. It’d be suspicious if one of us didn’t show up…” Vivi said.

“...I have an idea,” Mystery, who had been quiet until then, piped up. “The door has a cat flap, which means Mr. Masters likely has a cat and we don’t know how said cat would react to me. As such, we have an excuse. If we split up under the pretenses of Lewis taking me on a walk, we could collect some info while you two listen to what our client has to say,” he finished.

“...You’ve got a point. I’ll go get the leash,” Arthur responded. He climbed into the back of the van and soon came back out with a red leash. He attached one end to Mystery’s collar and gave the other to Lewis.

“Let’s meet up at... the park, ok?” Lewis said.

“Amity Park’s park? Sure” Arthur answered, grinning at his own bad joke. This earned him a dry look from Lewis and Mystery while Vivi snorted.

“We’ll just be going now,” Mystery said dryly. He turned around and started walking, prompting Lewis to follow. Vivi and Arthur went to ring the doorbell. After a few moments, the door was answered by a man wearing a black business suit. He had long, gray hair tied to a ponytail and a goatee.

“Ah, you must be the Mystery Skulls,” the man said. “Please, do come in.”

 

~~~~

 

Vlad smirked as he led the duo inside. They all sat down once they reached his office.

“As I’m sure you’re both aware, I am Vlad Masters, Amity Park’s mayor,” he began. “I have called you here today to discuss something very important.”

“I’m Vivian Hart, the leader of Mystery Skulls, and this is Arthur Kingsmen, our mechanic,”the blue woman, Ms. Hart, said.

“Yes. Now that we have the introductions out of the way, I suppose we should just get to the point. However, there is one thing troubling me,” Vlad commented. “I was under the impression that your group consists of four people, yet only two of you are here. Why would that be, Ms. Hart?” he inquired. Of course, he knew that one was walking the dog, but he had no idea about the whereabouts of the last one.

“Please, just Vivi is fine,” she said.

“Anyway, Lewis Pepper is out walking Vivi’s dog, Mystery, who’s our mascot and a sort of a spare ghost radar,” Mr. Kingsmen answered. He then seemed to remember something and continued, “As for the last one, Benjamin Keaton, he’s not with us. Since if we ever need his help we can just call, he usually just stays back home.” Vlad nodded in acknowledgement. One detail still intrigued him, though.

“What do you mean by the dog being ‘a spare ghost radar’?” he asked.

“Oh! Well, you see, canines are very good at sensing supernatural things, Mystery especially so. No ghosts can hide from him!” Vivian piped up, very exited. “Neither can demons or vampires or werewolves or…”

“Vivi! You’re rambling again!” Mr. Kingsmen pointed out. He let out a sigh and turned his gaze towards Vlad. “Anyway, you called us here for a reason, Mr. Masters, did you not?”

“Yes, of course,” Vlad answered smoothly. He was suddenly very glad that Mr. Pepper had decided to take the dog out. Even if Vlad is only half ghost, he knew that some equipment reacted to halfas even in human form, and he couldn’t just claim malfunction when it came to an actual animal. Vlad cleared his throat.

“I trust you have heard of Danny Phantom.”

 

~~~~

 

**Amity Park, Rosilie Street, 8:06 AM**

 

Lewis and Mystery were walking down the street, just minding their own business and familiarizing themselves with the town. Nothing had seemed out of place so far, but then suddenly, Mystery stopped in his tracks. Lewis looked around for a moment before crouching next to the dog.

“What is it?” He asked.

“I… I feel a strange presense,” Mystery explained, his voice barely above a whisper. “I haven’t encountered anything like this before.” He looked around a bit more before his eyes fell on a group of three teens and he started pulling Lewis towards them.

“Wh-whoa! Mystery!” Lewis cried. As the two were approaching the teens, one of them started looking around. He looked like he was about to run off to somewhere before Mystery stepped in front of him, surprising the teens.

“Mystery! What got into you?” Lewis chided. He then turned to the teens. “Sorry about that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s fine,” answered the boy wearing a red and white t-shirt.

“Dogs always seem to have that kind of reaction to him, anyway,” said the other boy of the group, earning him a glare from the first boy.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses? It’s not that bright today,” questioned the girl. It was true, the sky was overcast and had been most of the day so far.

“Uh…” Lewis sputtered for a moment, before regaining his composure. “Actually, these are EnChroma glasses. I’m colorblind,” he lied. Thankfully the teens seemed to have bought it. “Anyway, I’m not from around here. Can you give me directions to the park?” Lewis asked, hoping to change the topic.

“Sure. Just go straight from here and turn left and you should be able to see it,” the boy in the white t-shirt replied. Lewis thanked him and left with Mystery. Once they were a good distance away from the teens he turned to Mystery.

“Seriously, what the heck was that all about?”

“That presence I told you about. It was him,” Mystery answered. “His kind is not like anything I’ve encountered before, which means it’s either relatively recent or rare - perhaps _both_ ,” He continued before Lewis could say anything. “I can tell this much though; his two friends are human and he himself _used to be_ human. He’s also got ectoplasmic energy, although very little.”

“Wait, wouldn’t that mean he’s a ghost?” Lewis asked, puzzled.

“Normally yes. However, that boy is very much _alive_ , and as I said, has very little ecto-energy,” said Mystery. He turned to look behind himself and saw that the boy was now gone and the other two were digging around their backpacks, looking for something. “We should be careful. Whatever he is, he’s powerful. He may seem friendly, but we can’t be sure and if there are others like him…” he trailed off as he watched the other kids dash off to somewhere.

“...They may not be friendly themselves,” Lewis finished.

“Precisely. We should tell Vivi and Arthur about him once we meet up again.”

 

~~~~

 

Danny, Sam and Tucker watched as the strange man and his dog walked away.

“Danny, there’s something strange about that dog,” Sam said.

“If you’re talking about the red stripes, some people dye their pet’s fur. It’s not that strange,” Danny pointed out.

“But how many pet owners give their pet glasses? Or colored contact lenses? I’ve _never_ seen a dog with red eyes before!” Sam shouted. “Well, other than Cujo, but he’s a ghost,” she added.

“Calm down Sam, you’re probably reading too much into this. More importantly, Danny, didn’t you sense a ghost or something?” Tucker said.

“Oh, right!” Danny exclaimed. He quickly ran into an alleyway and ducked between dumpsters. A flash of light could be just barely seen before Danny Phantom emerged.

“I think we should split up. I’ll go north from here. Sam, you take east and Tucker takes west. Contact me if you find anything,” Danny instructed. He then flew off. Sam and Tucker quickly checked their backpacks for their stuff before splitting up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately KissCartoon is down at the moment (I think it has something to do with overloaded servers) so my watching of Danny Phantom has halted until further notice. They’ll probably be able to fix the issues by the end of the year, though.
> 
> We’ll return to Vivi and Arthur in the next chapter. This little detour with Lewis and Mystery wasn’t exactly planned, but I felt that since I had the team split up, I should show what the other two were up to. Oh, and I’m not actually sure whether or not Vlad has a mansion at the edge of town, but he most definitely has enough money to have four or more, so if his canon mansion has a different placement let’s just pretend he has at least two. and they're currently in his second mansion
> 
> By the way, my explanation for Mystery saying that Danny has very little ectoplasmic energy is that he was Fenton at the moment. Remember, not everything reacts to a halfa’s human half! For example, I remember that at one point there were ghost shields that wouldn't let Phantom trough but Fenton just walked trough like there was nothing there.
> 
> Until next time!


	3. ~The Case Details~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to think that the time stamps were a bad idea, since I'm not very good at judging how much time certain events would take. But since I've already been using them I'm gonna use them for the rest of this fic at least.

**Masters’ Mansion, 8:10 AM**

 

Vivian seemed surprised at what Vlad said, but she hid it well. He couldn’t blame her, most knew Daniel as a hero. Glancing at Mr. Kingsmen, he saw that his reaction was similar to Vivian’s.

“I suppose I should explain. Judging by your expressions, you know Phantom as a hero. However, that is simply a front, I have seen his true colors for myself,” Vlad lied smoothly.

“If that is so, why haven’t you told the public this yet?” Vivian asked suspiciously, her eyes slightly narrowed. He’d anticipated a question like this.

“Well, you see, Phantom has blackmailing material over me. If I were to say anything, he would reveal things about me I’d rather not have everyone know,” he elaborated. Technically not a lie. “This is also why I wanted to meet here.”

“I see,” said Vivian, deep in thought.

“So, you’d like us to capture Phantom, correct?” Mr. Kingsmen affirmed. Vlad nodded.

“Yes. I would also prefer if you brought him to me intact. I will deal with him myself,” he told them. “Now, is there anything that’s still unclear to you?”

“No, I think we got it all,” Vivian responded, furiously taking notes in her notebook. “I’m assuming there’s nothing else you want to tell us at the moment,” she turned a new page and started writing, “but if you think of something you can contact us with this number,” she finished and ripped off the page, handing it to Vlad. He accepted it and nodded to her.

“Thank you for your time Vivian, Mr. Kingsmen. You may leave,” he said. Vivian bowed politely and the two of them left. Vlad smirked to himself. Those two were clearly competent, yet they were gullible enough to trust him.

He was interested to see where this would lead.

 

~~~~

 

“I don’t trust him,” Vivi muttered as she fastened her seatbelt.

“Me neither, Vi,” Arthur agreed. “I highly doubt that Phantom is as bad as he claims. After all, what would his motivation be? If he simply wanted to gain the public’s trust and then attack, he would have done so a long time ago.”

“Exactly. I say we do our own research and decide what to do for ourselves,” Vivi suggested while Arthur started up the van.

“I think we should play along for now. Plus, if we capture him, we can get his side of the story. But we should definitely do some research,” Arthur responded.

“Good point. Well, let’s go pick up Lew and Mystery and return to our hotel room. We can discuss this more then.”

 

~~~~

 

**Amity Mall, 8:27 AM**

 

Danny was flying above Amity Mall when the Fenton Phone in his ear crackled to life.

“Danny, Sam, Technus has been sighted at Techno World! Come quick!” Tucker yelled.

“That recently built technology store near Nasty Burger? Be right there,” Sam responded.

“Shouldn’t take more than five minutes to get there if I hurry and no other ghosts turn up,” Danny said before he sped off. “What’s the current situation, Tuck?”

“Technus is announcing his evil plan to the world. He’ll probably proceed with his plan soon enough,” Tucker answered.

“See if you can distract him. Ask for more details on his plan or something,” Danny instructed. He then focused solely on flying so that he wouldn’t crash into anything, going intangible when necessary.

 

~~~~

 

Soon enough Danny had arrived at Techno World, and Sam wasn’t far behind. Tucker had successfully distracted Technus, who was still rambling on about his evil scheme and how he’d destroy the city.

“Ok, he hasn’t yet collected a body of technology to shield him and he hasn’t stopped rambling. I think we should be good to just store him in the thermos,” Sam observed. “Danny-” she started but he sped by her towards Technus. About halfway there, he went invisible to avoid detection. “Aaaand he’s gone,” Sam sighed. She observed from afar as Danny went visible again and sucked Technus into his Fenton Thermos. She was about to call out to him when she noticed a way too familiar van pull up next to her.

 

The Fenton RV.

“Oh no,” Sam whispered when she saw Jack and Maddie Fenton get out with ecto weapons in hand and charge towards the store. “I’ve gotta warn Danny,” she muttered to herself, fiddling with her Fenton Phone. “Danny, come in! Your parents are approaching you!”

“Oh no,” was all Danny said. Sam could see him turn to look at his parents in the distance and then fly off, the two adults chasing after him. “I’ll try to lose them. You and Tuck go on ahead to my place, we’ll meet there.”

 

~~~~

 

**Hotel Fantasma, Room 206, 9:30 AM**

 

The Mystery Skulls had returned to their hotel room to do research. On the way there, Vivi and Arthur had explained their mission to Mystery and Lewis, who in turn told the two others of the strange boy they had encountered. Currently they were planning how to go about the case while Arthur looked up information about Danny Phantom.

“Alright, I think I’ve found about as much information as we need,” Arthur said, breaking the silence. “There are two cases in particular that I found interesting.” The rest of the team gathered behind him as put a YouTube video on fullscreen.

“First, you should know that there was a period of time when Phantom was known as ‘Inviso-Bill’ and considered public enemy number 1. This is because he apparently kidnapped the previous mayor. I was able to find this TV report, but unfortunately the quality isn’t the best,” Arthur explained, and then played the news report. It detailed how the town had been overrun by ghosts. Arthur skipped ahead to the part where Phantom was shown kidnapping the mayor.

“Look,” Vivi spoke as she took the mouse away from Arthur and rewinded the video a little. “His movements look a little strange,” she said, pointing at at the screen. “Oh, curse this video quality! It’s hard to tell what’s going on!”

“I thought that was strange too, but let’s not dwell on that,” Arthur stated, stealing the mouse back. He went to another tab and hit play. This video was another news report, but this time the footage showed Phantom stealing jewellery and then destroying the security camera that was filming, cutting off the footage.

“Wait a second…” Lewis muttered. He took the mouse and rewinded the video, pausing it when Phantom got close to the camera. “His eyes aren’t supposed to be red, are they?”

“No, pretty sure they’re normally green…” Vivi agreed. “A shapeshifter, perhaps?” she guessed.

“Please don’t remind me of the Pepperman,” Arthur muttered. “Anyway, these two cases are strange because they’re _out of character_. Even if what he normally does is a facade, this is radically different from the other stories I found,” Arthur explained.

“I see,” said Vivi. “But I wonder… Could ‘Inviso-Bill’ and ‘Danny Phantom’ be two separate entities? It would explain why the eye color was different in the robbery footage. Ghosts also rarely change their way without outside influence, and all reports of Phantom working with humans were after the name change,” she pointed out. She then glanced at the clock. “I think the news should be airing about now,” Vivi stated and went to turn on the TV and went through channels until she found the right one.

“ _...been sighted at the recently built Techno World. Luckily for everyone, the town hero Danny Phantom was there to stop the ghost from doing any damage,_ ” a red haired news reporter said. “ _However, he was quickly chased off by the Fentons,_ ” there was some footage of Phantom fleeing and a man and a woman wearing jumpsuits chasing after him. “ _Thankfully it seems that he was able to escape them, as he was sighted later flying in the sky,_ ” she finished.

“The public opinion of him seems to be mostly positive, just like Mr. Masters said,” Arthur commented. Vivi put her hand on her chin and hummed in thought.

“I’ve got and idea,” she said after a moment, her lips curving into a mischievous smile. “Let’s dress up as reporters and pretend we’re writing an article on Phantom. We’ll split into two teams again and ask around about him. We might be able to find out more about him. Plus we’ll need to talk to the Fentons anyway, and this way they’ll be more inclined to tell us what they know than if we went as the paranormal investigation team Mystery Skulls,” she elaborated.

“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll go with Lewis,” Mystery said. “Although, I believe it’s time to bring out ‘Mr. Keaton’,” he continued with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Then it’s settled!” Vivi exclaimed. “We better get ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “The Pepperman” is a reference to something in the MSA fandom. Basically, a fan created a very bad shapeshifter that took the form of Lewis but is kinda obviously not him. The Pepperman also has bad grammar and in at least one image of him he said “Yes hello I am the Pepperman”, thus the name.
> 
> I’m not sure how long until the next chapter. This one came rather quickly because I wrote all weekend, even if I got a bit distracted by memes at one point and even watched a few LazyTown episodes. The big reason why the next one might take a while is that I wanna draw the Skulls’s Reporter outfits. Although my winter break will start next wednesday, so I will have more time to write and draw.
> 
> I’m not sure if I can get the next chapter out before Christmas, so… Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
> 
> Stay tuned!


	4. ~Interviews: Part I~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m SO sorry for the wait! I got stuck a few times and I’m kinda playing a few video games at the moment because… Procrastination I guess? Also school started up again on the ninth of January so yeah. I’m gonna have some exams soon, but after that I should be able to focus a bit more on writing.

**Hotel Fantasma, Room 206, 1:47 PM**

 

The Mystery Skulls had further discussed their plan of attack and decided, that it would be best if Vivi and Arthur were the ones to talk to the Fentons while Mystery and Lewis get the general public opinion. After lunch, they’d retreated to their hotel room to get ready. At the moment, Vivi was finishing up her makeup in the bathroom. After she was done, she checked herself over in the mirror. She was wearing a white turtleneck shirt underneath a royal blue jacket and a dark blue pencil skirt. After a moment of thinking, she wrapped her usual scarf around her neck and went out to the main room, where Arthur and Lewis were waiting. Vivi took one look at Arthur sprawled over the only armchair in the room and almost facepalmed.

“Arthur, you’re not even trying,” she chided.

“Hey, I’m supposed to be your cameraman, not like I don’t look presentable enough,” Arthur responded. Lewis chuckled while Vivi sighed. She grabbed a hairbrush and promptly attacked Arthur’s hair.

“Lewis, bring me a hairband, will you?” she muttered while brushing Arthur’s hair despite his complaints. “Geez Art, you use far too much hair gel,” Vivi criticized. She thanked Lewis when he came back with the requested hairband and quickly tied Arthur’s hair to a rather messy ponytail. She then fetched a white and orange cap and threw it to Arthur. “There, put that on and take off your vest and you’ll be fine,” she demanded. Arthur pouted but did as instructed. After a moment of thought he took off the cap and stuck his star pin onto it and put it back on backwards. Vivi nodded in acceptance. She then looked over at Lewis, who had discarded his own vest and rolled up his sleeves. She supposed that he was fine like that.

The bedroom door opened and out walked a somewhat tall man, whose hair was mostly dark brown with two red stripes on either side of his head. He was wearing a white turtleneck shirt and a reddish-brown vest. He had brown fingerless gloves and red jeans. The man stopped for a moment as he saw the people in the room.

“Wow. I can’t believe I took longer than Vivi,” he said, adjusting his yellow-tinted glasses.

“It’s kinda sad when a woman putting on makeup takes less time than a kitsune with a disguise, isn’t it Mystery?” Arthur observed.

“Oh wipe that smile off of your face,” Mystery mumbled and lightly smacked the back of Arthur’s head. “Anyway, are we all ready to go?” He asked, crossing his arms.

“We’re all done here and the equipment needed is in the van, so yes,” Arthur answered and got up.

“Good, then let’s get going.”

 

~~~~

 

**Fenton Works, 2:00 PM**

 

Danny, Sam and Tucker were up in Danny’s room. While Danny and Tucker were discussing the newest version of Doomed, Sam had pulled out her laptop from her bag and was completely ignoring the boys.

“Sam!” Danny shouted, which finally got her attention.

“What?” Sam asked.

“We asked your opinion on the addition of more melee weapons in Doomed,” Tucker said.

“Oh. Well, I think it’s good, brings more variety to the table,” Sam answered, distractedly. Danny and Tucker shared a glance.

“Ok, what’s on your mind Sam?” Danny asked. He leaned over to look at her laptop screen. “And why are you looking up mythical canines?”

“That dog we encountered is just still bothering me. I looked it up and I don’t think it’s possible for dogs to have red eyes, all results I could find talked about bloodshot eyes and that dog was definitely healthy. What’s more, I don’t think it was a ghost, its eyes didn’t glow at all,” she explained.

“Or, you know, it’s just a weird dog,” Tucker said. Sam glared at him and was about to snap at him when the doorbell went off.

“I’ll get it!” came Jack’s enthusiastic yell from downstairs. The trio exchanged glances and with a silent agreement they went to see who it was.

Downstairs, Jack and Maddie were at the door. Danny, Sam and Tucker couldn’t see who it was at the door because of the adults blocking their line of sight.

“Of course! Please, come in,” Maddie said, answering a question the teens hadn’t heard. She and Jack stepped aside to let in the people at the door - A woman wearing blue and a blond man. The man had a camera dangling from his neck and both he and the woman had notepads.

“Danny! I see you and your friends have come downstairs,” Jack noted. He put a hand on Danny's shoulder and motioned to the two strangers. “These are Vivian Hart and Arthur Kingsmen,” he announced.

“They’re reporters for the magazine Daily Rhythm,” Maddie added. Ms. Hart smiled.

“We’re here to interview Mr. and Mrs. Fenton,” she explained.

“On what exactly?” Danny asked, although he had a pretty good guess.

“Danny Phantom,” Mr. Kingsmen replied with a grin.

“ _ Of course _ ,” Danny thought, somewhat annoyed. Couldn’t it just have been about ghosts in general or something?

“Actually, why don’t you three join in? We’re specifically writing about the public opinion of him,” Ms. Hart suggested.

“You know what? Sure. We might as well”

 

~~~~

 

As Maddie led everyone to the living room, Vivi observed the black haired boy. He matched Mystery’s description perfectly, as did his friends. And he had stiffened ever so slightly when she mentioned what they were there to do. Whatever he was, she and Arthur would need to be careful, not play all their cards at once. But she had a feeling that the boy had an ace up his sleeve. Said ace had to be connected to what he was, but she had no clue what he even  _ could _ be. A quick glance at Arthur revealed to her that he was also thinking about something along those same lines.

Once everyone had sat down Vivi opened her notebook.

“Now then, let’s begin. Could you tell us your opinions on Phantom?”

 

~~~~

 

**Amity Library, outside, 2:44 PM**

 

“Thank you for your time, ms. Gray,” Mystery said to the girl he’d been interviewing. She waved goodbye and walked away. “Well, she certainly had strong opinions,” Mystery commented, turning to Lewis.

“Yep. Think we should interview one more person?” Lewis asked. Mystery shrugged.

“Sure, might as well,” he decided. The two soon spotted a red haired girl coming out of the library. They glanced at each other, nodded and the approached her.

“Excuse me, miss, do you have time for an interview?” Mystery began. “My name is Benjamin Keaton and this is Lewis Pepper, we’re reporters for the Daily Rhythm,” he continued.

“Sure, I have time,” the girl responded. She adjusted the books she was carrying and extended her hand for a handshake. “Jazz Fenton. Nice to meet you, Mr. Keaton, Mr. Pepper,” she answered as she shook hands with Mystery and Lewis.

“ _ Fenton, huh?” _ Mystery noted mentally. “Likewise. I take it you’re the daughter of the local Ghost hunters?” he asked as they shook hands. Jazz nodded.

“I am. Although, I doubt that is why you stopped me. What exactly did you want to talk about?”

“Getting straight to the point, I see,” Mystery commented.

“We’re collecting data on the general public opinion of Danny Phantom, the town’s ghost hero,” Lewis explained. Mystery didn’t miss how Jazz tensed ever so slightly. “Could you answer some of our questions?” Lewis continued.

“Yes, of course. What would you like to know?” she asked, her smile just a bit too forced.

“Well, to begin with, could you tell us what you think of Phantom?” Mystery asked.

“Well, unlike my parents, I think he’s a hero. Several times he has proven this with his actions. My parents just can’t seem to accept that not every ghost is evil,” Jazz huffed. Although she was still tense and on guard, her words were sincere. Lewis wrote down her answer.

“When did you first encounter Phantom?”

“During the Casper High Spirit Week two years back. A ghost tried to kill me but Phantom saved me.”

“I see. Back then, what did you think of him?”

“He  _ saved me _ , obviously I was grateful.”

The questions continued for a few more minutes. Jazz relaxed ever so slightly over the course of them, but she stayed on guard. She was obviously keeping something to herself, but it was clear that she had immense trust in Phantom. Mystery scribbled down her answers.

“Thank you for your time, Ms. Fenton,” he said finally. Jazz nodded.

“I’d better get going now. Goodbye, Mr. Keaton, Mr. Pepper,” She said, turned, and walked away.

“We should be going too,” Lewis pointed out. “Vivi and Arthur should be done with their interview soon, if not already, so let’s head over to the Hotel,” he continued.

“You’re right. Then, let’s go, shall we?” was Mystery’s response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I’m so sorry for the wait! This chapter fought me the whole way through! Even during uploading... This is my third try... Third time's the charms, right?
> 
> Don’t worry, I’m not skipping over Vivi and Arthur’s entire interview. Only the stuff that Mystery and Lewis already asked Jazz. So, we’ll be traveling back in time a little bit, I suppose? I just felt that this way the story flowed better.
> 
> Until next time!


	5. ~Interviews: Part II~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the part I’ve been waiting for… It’s sooner than I thought tbh
> 
> I’d just like to let you all know that I appreciate every single comment I get even though I don’t reply to most of them. I just have trouble finding my words.

**Fenton Works, 2:44 PM**

 

Over the course of the interview, the three teens had barely spoken. Mainly they’d added small things here and there, sometimes correcting something the the adults said. The thing they made crystal clear, though, was that they supported Phantom.

“You are inventors, correct? May we see your latest invention?” Arthur asked. Mr. Fenton immediately brightened up.

“Of course!” he said. He stood up to retrieve it from the basement. Vivi reasoned that that must be where their lab is located.

“This is the Fenton Ecto-locator! Once it finds a ghost, it registers it’s Ecto-signature and then we can follow that ghost as long as it stays within the Ecto-locator’s range” Mr. Fenton announced as he emerged from the lab. He handed the device to Arthur and sat down. Vivi noted that one of the boys - Danny, she believes they called him - looked rather uncomfortable.

“Of course, it’s not quite complete yet. We still need to work out a few kinks,” Mrs. Fenton added.

Arthur inspected the device at all angles, trying to figure out how it works. After a while he nodded and handed it over to Mrs. Fenton.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. I believe it is time we leave,” Arthur stated.

“Oh, of course. If you come up with any more questions that need to be answered, you’re welcome to come back,” Mrs. Fenton said as Vivi and Arthur stood up. They exchanged goodbyes and left.

“Mystery and Lewis should be done with their interviews, so let's head back to the hotel,” Vivi suggested.

“Let's,” Arthur agreed.

 

~~~~

 

Jazz was walking fast. She felt that she should let Danny know what had happened. She just had a bad feeling about all this.

Once she was home, she quickly went to the living room. She was relieved to find Danny and his friends sitting there, discussing something.

“Hey, Little Brother. Where’s Mom and Dad?” she asked.

“Hey Jazz. They’re down in the lab, working on the Ecto-locator,” Danny replied.

“Then they’ll probably stay there for a good while. Listen, I need to tell you guys something,” Jazz said.

“What is it? Sam questioned.

Jazz recapped exactly what had happened. Once she was finished, Danny, Sam and Tucker explained what had happened on their side.

“So, two people came here to talk to our parents about Phantom, and two people went around on the street asking questions about Phantom, both duos claiming to be reporters. Somehow, I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” Danny muttered, the others humming in agreement.

“But what do they want?” Sam wondered. Suddenly, her eyes widened. “Jazz, you said that the Pepper guy was tall with purple hair, right?” she asked.

“Um… Yeah?” Jazz responded.

“And what did Mr. Keaton look like again?” Sam questioned. “Give me details,” she added quickly.

“Uh… He was rather pale, but still healthy looking, and he looked Asian… His hair was black with a red stripe on either side of his head. He wore yellow glasses…” Jazz listed, trying to remember everything.

“And his eyes?” Sam pressed.

“I… I think they were brown? Maybe a little red-ish?”

“Sam, where are you going with this?” Tucker asked, confused. Danny nodded in agreement. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by his ghost sense. He sighed.

“I’ll go deal with that,” Danny muttered, transformed, and flew through the wall. The three others watched him go.

“Anyway, why the questions, Sam?” Jazz asked.

“This morning, we ran into a man who was out walking his dog. And considering your descriptions, I’m pretty sure that man and was Mr. Pepper!” Sam explained. “Furthermore, the dog was white with some black and red fur on it’s head. It also wore yellow glasses and had red eyes,” Sam added.

“So, what you’re saying is that Mr. Keaton and the dog are one and the same?” Jazz confirmed.

“Exactly,” Sam confirmed. “We have encountered shapeshifting ghosts before, namely Amorpho and Bertrand. Plus, Danny’s ghost sense did go off a little before we ran into the two. I originally dismissed the thought, but it’s starting to look more and more probable that this “Benjamin Keaton” is a ghost.”

“You know, you’ve got a point,” Tucker agreed. He pulled out his smart phone and started typing. “Anything else of interest?”

 

~~~~

 

Danny couldn’t see the ghost he’d sensed anywhere. He knew that whoever it was, they couldn’t have gotten too far. Suddenly, he heard distinctive mechanical whirring. He quickly dodged to the side to avoid the missiles launched his way, turning around to face the ghost in the process.

“Skulker!” Danny yelled.

“Hello, Whelp,” Skulker replied as he aimed at Danny. He launched a net at him, which was easily dodged.

“Really? A net? Don’t you have any new toys?” Danny taunted. He charged up an ecto blast while avoiding whatever Skulker threw at him. “Or did Walker confiscate everything else?” he continued. He paused for a brief moment, blasted one of Skulker’s missile launchers and froze the launched missiles. “Actually, did he arrest literally everyone or something? Today’s been calmer than usual,” he avoided another net and destroyed the launcher, “the only ghosts I’ve ran into are you and Technus. Not even the Box Ghost has bothered me today.”

“Obviously, Ghost Child! Only complete nutjobs like Technus would be crazy enough to come out of the Ghost Zone when the Mystery Skulls are in town!” Skulker barked and fired a ray.

“Well, what does that say about you then?” Danny deadpanned as he dodged the attack. He evaded the rest of Skulker’s attacks, ignoring his angry shouts of how he’s “the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter”. Once he got close enough to Skulker, Danny kicked him straight down onto the road and proceeded to trap him in the thermos.

“Well, that’s that,” Danny said to himself. “Maybe I should go patrol just in case. But first…” he muttered  and turned on his Fenton Phone. “Tucker, come in!” It took a moment, but soon there was an answer.

“ _ Danny, what’s up? You need help over there? _ ” Tucker asked.

“No, but I need you to research something for me while I patrol. Skulker mentioned something called “the Mystery Skulls” while I fought him,” Danny informed him.

“ _ Alright, I’m on it! Contact us if you need any help, ok? _ ” Tucker said.

“Thanks Tuck, and I will,” Danny agreed, and flew off.

 

~~~~

 

**Amity Park, Rosilie Street, 4:01 PM**

 

When the Mystery Skulls had regrouped at their hotel room, the two teams had swapped info. That had been a few hours ago, and at the moment they were hanging out near the park. They’d all changed to their normal clothes and Mystery had shed his human disguise. Arthur was sipping the soda he had bought from the nearby convenience store, Vivi had finished hers a few minutes ago.

“No Phantom sightings other than that one this morning so far,” he commented, screwing shut the now empty soda bottle. “Where should we start our search?” he asked. Vivi hummed in thought.

“The most frequent sightings of him are around Casper High, Amity Mall, Nasty Burger and strangely enough, Fenton Works. He’s only ever seen near the school on school days, and he wasn’t near Fenton Works when we were there. Our or the Fentons’ equipment surely would have noticed him if he were,” she said.

“That just leaves the mall and Nasty Burger,” Lewis noted, crossing his arms. “Although I will never understand why anyone would name their fast food place “Nasty Burger”,” he muttered, scrunching his nose. Vivi patted his arm in understanding.

“Were closer to the mall than the Nasty Burger, so I say we start there,” Arthur suggested. The others agreed. “Then it’s decided. Come on, let’s go.”

 

~~~~

 

Phantom hadn’t been at the mall, and the gang was continuing towards the Nasty Burger. Arthur was just driving past some flower shop when Mystery, who had been curled up on the middle seat, sat up.

“What it it?” Vivi asked.

“Phantom. I’m rather certain that it’s him I’m sensing. He’s near,” Mystery explained.

“Well, that was faster than I thought,” Arthur remarked. Smirking, he added, “Show the way, Mystery.”

 

~~~~

 

Danny had been flying fairly peacefully. Not a single ghost had been sensed and other than a brief run in with Valerie, who had been shaken off a few blocks back, nothing exciting had happened. He was just about start heading home when his ghost sense finally went off. He whipped around, trying to locate the specter. The only thing he could see, however, was a dull orange van driving on the road below him.

His eyes widened. A dull orange van with the words “Mystery Skulls” painted on that was speeding right toward him.

“Oh no.”

 

~~~~

 

“There he is!” Vivi shouted, pointing at the figure floating near the rooftops.

“I believe it’s my turn now,” said Lewis. Shedding his human illusion, he flew out of the van accompanied by a small burst of fire.

“Showoff,” Arthur muttered.

 

~~~~

 

A broad shouldered figure surrounded by magenta flames shot out of the van, and Danny felt his blood - er, ectoplasm - run cold. He was at a disadvantage in the elemental rock-paper-scissors.

The ghost was drawing closer, and Danny decided that he’d have to book it - while he may have the home field advantage, he’d rather not fight in an area quite as cramped. He noted that the van was still following him, which meant that the ghost hadn’t just hitched a ride.

“Ok, this is fine. I just need to lure them over to that open field,” he said to himself. He sped up a little bit so that the other ghost couldn’t quite catch up, but went slow enough that he wouldn’t lose sight of him. Although, he noted, it was strange that no attacks had been launched his way yet. He shook off the thought, choosing to focus on flying instead.

Once he was at the field, he stopped. The ghost stopped right in front of him and out of the corner of his eye he could see the van pull up near as well. Danny focused on the ghost and narrowed his eyes. Now that he was closer and not busy flying away from the other ghost, he could see more details, like the jawless skull floating above the body (A potential weakspot, he thought) as well as a large golden heart that appeared to be beating. The “hair” seemed to be made pink fire.

“Why haven’t you attacked yet?” Danny asked.

“I know enough about you to know you’re no coward, Phantom. I figured you were just leading me somewhere,” the ghost responded. Something about him was extremely familiar to Danny, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“Well then,” Danny charged an ectoblast, “Shall we?”

Instead of giving a verbal response, the ghost simply let his fists be coated by flames.

“I take it that’s a yes,” Danny commented, and fired.

Only, it missed despite the rather large target staying stationary, because a small, magenta ghost with an antennae on it’s head, beady yellow eyes and a yellow heart on it’s chest knocked his aim off.

“What the...” he sputtered, but quickly regained his composure. He tried again, this time more alert. Once again, the smaller ghost distracted him, although this time his target was moving. Two more of the tiny magenta spirits appeared. Danny tried to focus on what was likely their master, but the spirits kept distracting him. They’d fly close to him, tap his shoulder and immediately dart away, all while moving to some unheard beat. He was pretty sure one more had joined in, and was continuously flying circles around him, sometimes getting a little closer and changing direction. The spirits turned out to be too agile to hit when he tried to. He decided to do his best to just ignore them and tried to locate his initial target.

“Oh come on, where’d he go..?” he mumbled. Soon, the small ghosts scattered and Danny whipped around to find the ghost right behind him. He grabbed Danny’s arm and threw him right down to the ground. Before Danny could do anything, a white blur sped on top of him, and he found himself staring right into the red eyes of the dog he’s met earlier in the morning.

“Great job, Lew!” a familiar female voice called out. Danny felt a sting in his right shoulder just before he blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this one’s done! Apparently the way to get me motivated to write is to make me listen to the soundtrack of a Sonic game. Who knew? Unleashed in particular seems to work wonders.
> 
> Anyway, I’m not very confident in my ability to write actions scenes,and this chapter contains two, but hopefully they’re good. I can’t think of a way to improve them, anyway, so they’re the best I can do right now.
> 
> Until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> And so the first chapter has ended! As of writing this, I’m in the process of rewatching Danny Phantom. I gotta say, the show is weirder than I remember… Like seriously, I wouldn’t eat the stuff Sam got into the school cafeteria in Mystery Meat either. Vegan food can be delicious, I’m sure, but grass on a sandwich? Mud cakes made of actual mud? No way am I gonna eat that!
> 
> Anyway, this fic mainly focuses on the Mystery Skulls gang (for now, at least) but we will be seeing Team Phantom too, don’t worry. Oh, and I’ only assuming what the Japanese text on the Mystery Skulls Van says. I have not studied Japanese at all.
> 
> The next chapter is almost done. It should be up either later today or tomorrow. Well, if I don't encounter any unexected roadblocks, that is.


End file.
